The VA is also taking measures to accommodate summer vacations to avoid worker burnout
The Department of Veterans Affairs warned that the backlog to process claims could double over the next year, reaching "potentially up to 400,000."
VA Undersecretary for Benefits Joshua Jacobs said the agency has seen a spike in disability claims in large part as a result of the PACT Act, a law signed last year that aims to improve care for Veterans who have been exposed to toxic material, according to a Military.com report Monday.
The influx of claims could lead the VA backlog, which is defined as claims older than 125 days, to double over the next year, Jacobs said, forcing the agency to balance quickly processing those claims while attempting to avoid burning out its workforce.
More than 560,000 new disability compensation claims have been filed since the new legislation passed last year, while the VA has increased its workforce by about 15% to help tackle the new claims.
Jacobs said Monday the VA has seen a 30% increase in claims overall since the legislation passed and that the department is continuing its outreach to eligible Veterans while hoping to reduce the backlog from possibly 400,000 to around 100,000 by 2025.
"That's all dependent on a variety of factors … on how many Veterans file claims … the complexity and the number of conditions within each of those claims … our continued hiring success and a variety of other factors, to include our adoption of technology," Jacobs told reporters, according to Military.com.
Jacobs noted that the VA is currently processing claims faster than expected, delivering 1.7 million decisions in fiscal year 2022, a 12% increase over the previous fiscal year. So far in fiscal year 2023, the department is processing claims 15% faster than 2022, according to Jacobs.
"We've produced more decisions than any other time in our history," Jacobs said.
However, the department is also trying to be mindful of burning out its workforce, recently announcing a plan to pause its mandatory overtime policy instituted in 2017 this July and August to accommodate vacations, with Jacobs reasoning the VA needs to "take care of employees so that they can take care of Veterans."
Meanwhile, Jacobs anticipated improved efficiency after the VA expanded an automated processing system to 16 regional offices that will streamline easier claims decisions.
"As we work to verify, validate and graduate our automated decision support, we do anticipate some efficiency gains there as well, so collectively, we don't have to hire up as quickly as we have and ... can also move away from reliance on mandatory overtime," Jacobs said.
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